Escutcheon
by Kayka-chan
Summary: Wally West: Also known as the Flash. One of the original members of the Justice League. Fastest man alive. Died once. Charming wit and character. This is his story. CHAPTER 4 MODIFIED!
1. Competitive

**Alrighty! First JLU fanfic!**

**Fun fact: None of the chapters will be in any particular order. They'll still be connected but they won't have a specific pecking order. Does that make sense? If it doesn't you'll catch on soon enough.**

**Enjoy!**

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Competitive

_Thock, Ka-thunk-thunk, thock!_

Superman shook his head harder and dug his finger into his ear again before looking both ways down the hallway. He had been trying to pinpoint that noise that had echoed through the Watch-Tower with no luck; so far, anyway. He had a feeling he was getting close, due to the increasing volume.

He decided on the left and his footsteps joined the sound as he walked down the hall and listened carefully.

_Thock, Ka-thunk-thunk, thock!_

He noticed that its cadence had sped up considerably since he had first heard it and frowned contemplatively. Superman took one more step and suddenly—just like that— he was close enough to hear supportive cheers and whoops. He couldn't make out the words but the tones were unmistakable.

_Thockka-thunk-thunkthock!_

It briefly crossed his mind that some of the younger members of the Justice League were playing some form of game and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of the circuitry in the Tower. Then again… None of the younger ones could ever get anything going _that_ fast.

_Thockkathunkthunkthock!_

Superman found a closed door that he was positive the sound was coming from and pushed a button that had the door opening with a swish. The noise that had been muted was suddenly deafening.

The sight in front of him sported a Ping-Pong table with Flash whirring around both sides; smacking the ball back and forth and steadily picking up speed as he did so. A crowd of about twelve people were watching and Superman could pick out Green Lantern and Wonder Woman out of the main cheerers. He walked through the crowd to get to them.

"Do either of you want to explain what's going on?" He asked with a small grin in place as he watched the, surprisingly hypnotic, red blur as Flash sped up some more. Wonder Woman smiled at him.

"Someone from the government sent it as a thank you gift and Flash couldn't wait to try it out." She explained, laughter tinting her words.

"And the idiot decided he should see if he could play against himself. Then it escalated to how fast he could play against himself." The voice of Batman said from behind him. Superman blinked a few times in surprise before looking over his shoulder and, indeed, seeing Batman standing there and looking intimidating.

"I see…" He said. His eyes followed the ball a few times before he broke into a wide grin. "I call winner." He called loud enough for Flash to hear. From within the red blur came a laugh and an answer;

"A little slow there, Supes. Batman already called dibs."

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**You know it happened. They just forgot to put it in.**

**Like it?**

**Review please!**


	2. Pernicious

**I'm back!**

**Just so you know; I won't be updating this fast again probably ever. I just wanted to give you more than one short, boring old chapter to read, and here it is!**

**This one is rather angsty and probably overused, but I wanted to throw in my two cents.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: (forgot this before!) I do not own The Justice League.**

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_"If death meant just leaving the stage long enough to change costume and come back as a new character...would you slow down? Or speed up?" _

_- _

_Chuck Palahniuk_

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Pernicious

It wasn't his fault.

It _wasn't_…

They had been telling him that since the last breath from her tiny body had escaped and he still didn't believe them. Of course it was his fault. Or, if not the whole fault, at least some of the blame belonged to him. The main bullet points of the accident—because there was really no other thing to call it, regardless of the parent's feelings—he had no say and/or part in.

He hadn't made the little girl's ball roll into the street.

He didn't have anything to do with the truck driver falling asleep at the wheel.

But he could have gotten her to the hospital faster. He could have gone _faster_. He couldn't, though; he was too scared. He was scared that, if he went too fast, he would disappear again, and not come back this time.

So, it _was_ his fault that his own selfish cares had caused him to go slower than he would have.

It was his fault that that little girl—that _tiny_ girl, would never live to see her fifth birthday.

He grimaced and grit his teeth before opening his eyes and looking in his bathroom mirror at his self. His reflection looked back. His mask was bunched down around the back of his neck and his hair was sticking up at odd angles. A small smear of blood was across the bridge of his nose and on a very small part of his cheek. He blinked in surprise and reached up his hand to wipe it off.

He lowered his hand to stare at the slightly darker patch of red on his already crimson-spandex-clad fingers. He scowled lightly and rubbed his fingers together, feeling how easily they slipped. His scowl became more pronounced as a strong surge of anger welled up and caused him to rear back the hand that he had used to wipe the blood off with and smash it into the wall.

His hand numbed at the contact but the sensation quickly caught up and a tingly pain started. He ignored it and sped into his living room looking around viciously for something to attack. He started with his dresser, whirling quickly and hitting it with the back of his foot and his lower calf. It made a creaking noise and dented in.

He turned and smashed a lamp onto the floor, this one shattering into a good thirty large and jagged pieces.

His rage was then turned onto the first wall he came to and he began a series of rapid fire punches at as much strength as he could muster.

_It wasn't fair! What gave him, or anyone else, the right to decide who lived and who died? What could that girl have possibly done to deserve what she had gotten? Why her? Why? Why hadn't he gone faster? Why hadn't the truck driver taken a nap at a truck stop if he knew he was tired? Why weren't the parents watching her better? _

It was the pain that snapped him out of his frenzy. At first it was just annoying little pin-pricks that caused him to be more curious than anything, but when he actually looked and saw that he had punched right through the material and a substantial amount of skin on his knuckles it became more than that.

He grunted in surprise and pain before going into the bathroom again and rinsing them under the cold water.

"Ow…" He mumbled as the water swirled around in his wounds and caused them to sting. The thought to heal the skin back quickly toyed with his mind before he roughly shoved it back, angrily thinking that the little girl couldn't heal herself and that this could be his punishment. He winced and turned off the water, opening his medicine cabinet with the heel of his hand, so as not to get blood anywhere, and took out some gauze.

He looked at the white cotton, suddenly very, very tired.

The Flash knew that stuff like this happened and that you can do what you can to stop it, but if you can't then you did what you could and hopefully the world was going to be a better place because of your contribution. It was part of the job.

He groaned in pain through his teeth as he wrapped it around his hands carefully.

Wally West, though, still didn't know how to handle it.

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**See? I told you.**

**I hope it didn't seem like I was dragging it out...**

**Any suggestions or chages you would like me to make so that it reads easier or that could improve my writing are greatly appreciated!**

**Review please!**


	3. Set of Laws

**Alright! A fun chapter! I got this idea from someone else and thought I would give it a try. Nothing was plagerized and/or stolen from this person.**

**Now that that's out of the way;**

**Enjoy!**

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Set of Laws

*Note: This is only a few of the many—_many_—rules that try to restrict Flash from, quote; "Releasing his inner genius." unquote.

_Stop asking J'onn about the cast of Star Trek. He doesn't find it as amusing as you do._

"Oh, come on! Is Spock _seriously_ like that?"

"…Who?"

_You're not allowed to call a school pretending to be a child's parent to get them out of school. This should be a no brainer._

"Yes, I am mister… Smi-ittch. My son, Alex—."

"Allen."

_If Batman looks busy, he is._

"Nah, man. He's just tinkering around with a large explosive looking thing. Go on in."

_Hawkgirl's mace is not a toy._

"What _happened_?" Wonder Woman asked, looking around at the, positively destroyed, table at the center of the room. Flash cleared his throat and began uneasily backing away towards the door.

"It's… It's not my fault. Hawkgirl's mace is heavier than it looks."

_Wear underwear. __**Please**__._

"But it _chafes_…" Flash whined.

_You're not allowed to travel dimensions simply to get away from people you played tricks on._

"Wait, so, you're, like… A spider?" Flash asked, leaning against the wall and watching a festively dressed man hang upside down from a web.

"That _would_ be why my name is Spiderman…"

_You're __not__ a lawyer. Stop pretending you are._

"So, Flash, you get to have patrol on Wednesdays from noon till five."

"Objection!"

"Excuse me?"

_You're not a psychiatrist either._

"And, how does that make you feel?" Wally asked, leaning back in his chair and tenting his fingers in front of his face. Hawkgirl blinked in confusion and looked up at him from the keyboard of her computer.

"What are _you_ talking about?"

_Giving yourself a heart attack is __**NOT OKAY**__!!_

Superman breathed a sigh of relief as Flash sat up and started laughing. Hawkgirl groaned and placed her face into her palm. J'onn closed his eyes and shook his head.

"One day, he's actually going to have one and no one's going to believe him." Green Lantern grumbled from off to the side.

"_Because the Speed Force told me to." Is not a valid excuse._

"Is that like 'The devil told me too'?" John asked, fiddling with his ring as he vaguely watched Flash get his head repeatedly smacked by an irate Hawkgirl.

_Don't call Batman "Daddy Warbucks"._

Alfred's footsteps echoed as he walked through the Batcave, dutifully carrying his serving tray. Suddenly, his footsteps turned to crunching noises and he looked down to see gravel and debris in his way. He looked up at the ceiling and saw a large chunk missing. He sighed in a troubled way.

"Master Bruce needs to stop setting off bombs inside."

_Don't run in the hallways._

Green Arrow opened the door with a swish and went to step into the hallway, absentmindedly looking over some paperwork of his, before an extremely strong wind blew by him, knocking most of his papers from his hand and tossing his hat a good five feet away. He stumbled back a few steps before regaining his footing and looking into the hallway. All around were people lying on the floor or grabbing onto the wall for support. He walked over to Vigilante who was helping Huntress up off the floor.

"What happened?" He asked, looking around for his hat. Vigilante gave him a wry smile (or, at least he thinks he did; his scarf covered half his face, but his eyes crinkled.)

"Flash was late for a date with Fire."

_Just because you can run away fast enough doesn't give you the right to peep in the girl's bathrooms/locker rooms._

"_Flash_!" Came a rather unfeminine roar from somewhere in the Tower. Superman stopped in the middle of his story and looked down to where he thought it was coming from with an unnerved expression.

"What'd he do now?"

_**CHEW YOUR FOOD!!! **__It freaks out Supergirl when your food's there, then it isn't._

"He… he had more food on there than he probably _weighs_…"

Flash belched.

_Don't bring up Robin around Batman._

"Holy George Truman, Batman! Should we do it?"

Batman made an odd growly noise in his throat and violently threw a Batarang at Flash's head.

_Stop making fun of the fact that Superman doesn't have shoe laces._

"Did you never learn how to tie your shoes or something?"

_Not everyone likes Ping-Pong as much as you do._

"He needs to stop playing eventually." Hawkgirl mumbled as the sound of the Ping-Pong ball resounded through the nearly silent tower. Superman groaned and looked at her.

"He needs to stop playing _now_."

_Don't leave nonsensical notes saying where you are/or going._

'_In Alaska starting a cotton farm until the price of lamps goes down. Much Love; Flash_'

"…That doesn't even make sense!"

_You don't need a cell phone. Stop asking for one._

"But I could stay in such better touch with you guys, and, look! Unlimited texting!"

Green Lantern sighed and snatched the advertisement out of Flash's hands. "We have the best technology in the world. You don't need a cell phone!"

_Making up wild stories aren't the way to get a girl's attention._

"So the shark was…"

"Yep."

"And it took a bite out of your…"

"Oh, yeah."

_If you can't say something with a straight face; you're not allowed to say it._

Flash opened his mouth before the corners tugged upwards and he turned quickly, covering his mouth to stifle a laugh before turning around again and trying again. Before he even got it out, he was cut off by a simultaneous;

"Don't say it."

_No more Karaoke night._

"_Stayin alive, stayin alive_!"

Flash whooped while everyone else winced.

Apparently, Hawkgirl was tone deaf.

_Painting/Drawing/Placing anything on J'onn while he's trying to telepathically contact someone is __not __okay._

"He's so going to kill you when he comes back." Stargirl informed him as Flash doodled an old movie villain mustache on J'onn to compliment the sharpie afro.

"Only if he can catch me. Which he can't."

_Every injury you get does not warrant mouth-to-mouth resuscitation._

"Get up; you just stubbed your toe."

_Just because you know where the Batcave is does not warrant unauthorized slumber parties there._

"What do you care; you never sleep anyway. I bet your PJs have little bats on them…"

_If you're going to answer the phone, do it properly._

"City morgue; you stab em', we slab em'."

_Stop ordering food to be delivered to the Watch Tower and then demanding that it's free when they can't deliver it in under thirty minutes. WE ARE IN OUTER SPACE!!!_

"I'm not paying for that. I had to come and get it, an hour after I ordered it, when I asked for take out."

"But, sir…"

_Don't sing different versions of Jingle Bells while in the presence of any superhero._

"Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg— _Gack_!"

_No starting impromptu kick-lines. Especially if no one wants to join._

"The only one who would actually think about joining one is Ralf and he's not here."

_Please stop asking Alfred for Batman's baby pictures._

"I can assure you; Master Bruce burned them all in case something like this were ever to happen."

_You don't need a girl Flash._

"But it would be so _awesome_!"

_No 'Gangsta' talk. Ever._

"He'll tell you what he thought of it as soon as he stops laughing." Hawkgirl told him as she hooked a thumb over her shoulder at John who was bent over a table with his face in his arm and his fist smacking the table while roars of laughter bellowed out.

_You're banned from all press related contact._

"But she's this really hot reporter and she gave me her number and everything!"

"Flash, is she press related?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Then no."

_Superman isn't gay. Get over it._

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Green Arrow said, nodding.

"How can you be so sure?" Flash questioned suspiciously.

"He's walking with that sort of gait that says he got laid last night. By a woman. Namely; _his girlfriend_."

_You are not to buy anything from an infomercial, especially if you see it after 1 o'clock in the morning._

"Oh, come on! It cuts through shoes!"

"Flash, when are you _ever _going to need a knife that cuts through a shoe?"

_No board games that have the potential to last for more than a day._

"How'd you get that get out of jail free pass?" Green Lantern asked, glaring suspiciously at Flash.

"I can't remember…"

_Don't change Batman's coffee. That's how people __die__."_

"Did you give him decaf?" Wonder Woman asked as Batman stumbled through the doorway. Flash snorted and tried to cover it up by clearing his throat.

"No…"

_Don't touch things while in a museum._

"It only costs half a million, and I didn't break it _that_ bad."

_Don't try to get us a theme song._

"Everyone else gets one besides us as a whole!"

_Don't sell false stories to the tabloids. We don't care if you need the money._

Clark hummed happily to himself as he walked into his living room sipping some coffee and reading the paper. He absentmindedly picked up the remote and flicked the television on.

"… And now new evidence has emerged about Superman and his, shall we say, relationship with Green Lantern…"

A good long spray of super-powered coffee smashed into the television with the force of a hundred tiny bullets.

_Eating nine gallons of whip cream does not give you the right to celebrate by eating more food._

"Food costs money, Flash. Stop eating our money and go get some of your own!"

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**Was it enjoyable?**

**Review please!**


	4. Macabre

**Okay, so after I put this up I was looking at it and I suddenly realized that I wanted to do more with the Speed Force thing, but I didn't want it to take up more than one chapter. So now everyone gets a shot (including the main man himself)**

**Enjoy!**

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Macabre

He joked about it, but it was somewhat unfair.

Shayera shifted around in her seat, reaching down to her side to re-adjust her mace so that it would stop digging into her hip uncomfortably and watched Flash pay the price for one of his more recent stupidities. Green Arrow had fallen silent when he noticed that she wasn't paying attention and that she was scowling at Flash.

She had gotten used to his occasionally immature and vulgar behavior rather quickly and it didn't bother her anymore.

Okay, she's lying; it bothered her a lot, but she knew it was okay to hit him now.

What bothered her was that he would occasionally joke about his Speed Force encounter. She hated that because it was no laughing matter.

She had been terrified out of her mind—more scared for him than she had ever been of anything.

She had been scared because once he was gone, he was _gone_. Enemies could be fought off, lights could be turned on, small spaces can be made bigger, but you can't bring people back from the dead.

Of course, she knew that joking about something was his way of dealing with any/or certain issues, and she respected that to the appropriate extent.

But she just wanted to forget the ordeal. She wanted to forget about her moment of pure trepidation and she wanted to move past it. So for him to bring it up was just…

Cruel.

~XX~

John grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it around his waist before he stepped out of his shower, wincing at the tenderness of his muscles—hell, his _bones_—and set his mouth in a contemplative line.

Tonight had been a mess. Both figuratively and literally.

Lex was a maniac and that he wanted to kill them; that wasn't anything new, but none of them had actually thought that he would almost succeed. And with _Flash_ nonetheless…

It wasn't hard to imagine what life without Wally would be like, he had actually seen it, and he never wanted to have to live in that world. It would be wrong, like a paper clip bent out of shape. He knew that every one of them had been scared—he was, actually, more panicked than scared until after it was over and he realized that he was shaking.

He reached his hand up and wiped the condensation off of the mirror and looked at himself through the already re-accumulating fog.

The thing is, after the whole ordeal was over the true impact of the fear hit him, and not because of the something that he had just witnessed, but because of Wally's expression afterwards when Shayera had been hugging him.

Wally had looked like an addict going through some form of withdrawal.

He had looked desperate, like he wanted more.

He knew that it would kill him, he had said it out loud himself, but it didn't seem to matter to him.

That's what scared John. That he might lose his friend and comrade for a quick thrill.

~XX~

Superman found that, for the next few weeks after the Luther/Braniac incident, he would constantly glance over at Flash when they were together in the same room or space. He was a nervous wreck and was positive that if he took his eyes off him for one second that that horrible vortex would open up again and Flash would be sucked in and gone forever.

Or that he would become the very thing that he had vowed he would never become after the encounter with their Lordly counterparts.

He was positive that Flash hadn't noticed his paranoid glances, or if he had he didn't say anything about it, and Clark was glad of that because he really didn't want to have to explain to him why he kept looking at him. It was awkward enough as it was.

Every time he would disappear to get himself some food from the kitchen only to be back again before Superman had enough time to work up a panic, Clark wanted to run over to Flash and shake him until his teeth rattled out of his skull.

He may have been made of steel, but, for God's sake, his _sanity_ wasn't!

~XX~

For the first time in a long time, Batman—or Bruce Wayne in this case because he was officially off duty until it wore off—got well and truly drunk the night that Wally had almost vanished from existence.

He didn't do anything special for it. He didn't go out to a club, get drunk, and bring home some nameless and faceless woman that he would enjoy only out of desperation.

He went home, pulled his mask down, went up stairs, opened the cabinet and yanked out the first alcoholic beverage that he could get his hands on.

He didn't start guzzling it, however. First he just sort of stared at the bottle like he couldn't' remember how he got there or as if he was trying to decide if this was really a good idea.

Then an image of the Justice Lord's Batman flashed its way into his mind and suddenly the cap was off and the fiery liquid was splashing down his throat. He took his lips off the rim to hack at the burn. Then he sighed and grabbed himself a shot glass and retreated back down to the Batcave.

He wished that he could have gotten to Wally sooner but he didn't have any super powers and he could only move so fast against the raging wind.

He knew that it was probably pointless to grab on to the chain after Superman, Wonder Woman, and J'onn had but he wasn't going to take the chance that they only needed a little more help to get him out of that hole so he had grabbed on and held on.

He swirled his drink and observed foggily that it was almost gone and had to laugh out loud at the effect the annoying man had on him.

~XX~

Diana watched Flash sit across from her and eat a whole pizza faster than her eyes could follow. All around them, their co-workers were murmuring and looking over at Flash. They had all heard of his encounter and were probably curious.

She was too, actually.

She hadn't been the one to find him and only Shayera had been able to hear him apparently. She had just grabbed on and yanked as hard as she could.

Flash burped and smiled questioningly at her stare. Wonder Woman took a deep breath to steady her nerves then spoke;

"Were you scared?"

His whole body seemed to stiffen. The cafeteria seemed suddenly loads quieter and Diana suddenly regretted asking. Then he visibly swallowed and a strained smile broke his face.

"Not at all." He said, laughing in a way that hurt Diana's ears. She winced and felt her heart sink as he stood up and walked away.

He _lied_ to her.

~XX~

As soon as it had happened he had a heart stopping moment. He had felt like a shell as he watched Clark pick up Luther and curse his existence.

It had only been his natural reaction but it had started out as a distraction, as a way to try to get his mind off of Flash. He was only checking on his friend's psyches to make sure that none of them were too seriously hurt.

And then he felt something.

It was only a little tickle sort of a feeling, and it was like when you see something out of the corner of your eye and when you look it's gone, but you _know_ it's there.

Curious, he had chased it and grabbed it, pulling it up to the surface until it was identifiable.

Then he had such a strong collage of emotions it was like fireworks and explosions were going off in his stomach. He was relieved, terrified, overjoyed, and angry. He called to him.

_Flash?_

He hoped for an answer, because he knew that if he answered he was still salvageable.

He didn't actually get a worded answer, but the slight tickling became a poking prod and he knew that he had a good hold and that Flash was alive. Then suddenly it was a tickle again.

Then a breeze…

"Superman, everyone! Flash is still alive…"

~XX~

They were all curious. It didn't take a psychic to tell that they wanted him to tell them about his encounter with the force. And, in all honesty, he didn't think he could explain it anyway. There are really no words that he could say to explain the feeling.

It was pure freedom. It was normalcy. It was the strongest drug.

He wanted to go. He felt at home. He could honestly not remember ever feeling that liberated. Ever since his accident everything seemed to drag by, days felt like weeks and years were even worse.

But the Speed Force… it was only speed. He didn't have to worry about time there. Nothing was better than what was there.

He had read a few books with people who died in them and how they had had a nagging sort of voice in the back of their minds that had magically brought them back to life.

Wally never got that. His whole being wanted to stay. Every fiber of his soul was letting him be pulled along in the Speed Force current.

And when Shayera had stuck her hand in he suddenly remembered that he had friends, but that didn't change anything. He thought that they could come along. He tried to tell them how beautiful it was there, but that didn't do anything. Shayera had grabbed onto his arm.

When they began to pull him away he wanted to scream and he wanted to cry all at the same time. It hurt so badly. It felt like they were ripping his body in half and he fought her. It was only for a moment but he fought her. He wished that they all were dead so that he could just stay here and that they would leave him alone.

When he was out he was so empty. Like after you finish a movie or a book and hate the ending. He was an empty cup. He saw Shayera looking at him with such concern in his eyes that it just made him feel even worse for trying to fight her and wishing death upon her.

He told them that he couldn't go that fast again because if he did he didn't think he was coming back. He didn't elaborate, but what he really meant was;

"You won't get me out of there again."

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**Alright. Fixed it. Phew!**

**Review please!**


	5. Guilty Secret

**Back!**

**I have done it! I pumped out another chapter just in time for the Holidays!**

**Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!**

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Guilty Secret

Wally West cleared his throat uncomfortably as Helen was grouchily examined the scrapes on his knuckles.

"Well, they look a lot better than they did before. Glad to see you've actually been taking care of them." She mumbled as she let his hands fall. Wally smiled sheepishly and brushed back his hair for lack of better thing to do. She scowled at him and cocked her fists on her hips. "Why won't you tell me where you got hurt like that? It's not like whatever you did is going to be bad enough to get you fired." She looked contemplative and suddenly horrified; "You didn't kill someone did you?"

"No!" Wally groaned. Helen breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good." She said, turning around to head back over to her station. Wally let out a puff of air and turned back to his own thing, his lab coat swirling with his movement. He looked down at his knuckles. They really had gotten better; he didn't even have to wear the gauze anymore.

It was becoming more and more apparent why he just healed his cuts and scrapes fast as lightning, no one asked questions.

What was he supposed to say?

"Oh yes, I was cleaning my bathroom when I suddenly slipped and got a gigantic bruise that looks like a truck almost ran me over. Oh, and, also, I came up with this thing call a Flux Capacitor. By the way, I need to borrow your DeLorean."

As cool as that would be, no one would believe him and they would probably think he had some kind of abusive girlfriend or something.

It made him feel somewhat guilty that he couldn't tell these people that he thought of as friends what he really did. But…

He shot a glance over at the still worriedly contemplative face that belonged to Helen.

He might lose some of the only friends that he had outside of his hero life.

And he was quite tired of losing people, _thank_ you very much.

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**Was that a good enough present for you?**

**Review por favor!**


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